Vehicle tire

ABSTRACT

A vehicle tire having annular wire or rod strengthening contained in a plurality of separate ridges on the inner surface of the casing.

1 51 May 22,1973

United States Patent [1 1 Roque S N Wm mT A mm ML WP P mA R m0 mm m T AP N m E R o F 2,990,869 7/1961 Riley 1,678,211 7/1928Davidson..........v.. V. Alfredo Roque, Apartado. 952, 1,836,091 12/19313 U g a r a c i N a u 2. u a I m T M E an m e Ev V.m G M7 [22] Filed:June 17, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 46,846

193,351 2/1923 Great Britain........,...............152/153 PrimaryExaminer--Gerald M. Forlenza [52] US.CL.......,...........................l52/354, 152/158 AssistantExaminer-Robert Saifer [51] Int. Cl. 3/00, 1360c 9/22 Attorney-FrancisD. Stephens and Hugo Huettig, Jr.

[58] Field of Search......................152/354, 355, 356, 152/357,359, 352, 361,153,158

[57] ABSTRACT A vehicle tire having annular wire or rod strengthen- [56]References Cited ing contained in a plurality of separate ridges on theUNITED STATES PATENT inner surface of the casing.

3,414,036 12/1968 Skidmore 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENIED MY 2 2I975 INVENTOR v llfreoo Ragga 1 VEHICLE TIRE Heretofore tires have beenmade with fabric or cord embedded in the rubber. These materials latelyhave been made of nylon and of spun glass. Wire too has been used, asshown in US. Pat. No. 3,329,192 where steel wires 14 extend about theperiphery of the tire embedded in the tread portion of the tire. Thisuse of annular wire reinforcement is not entirely satisfactory as thetread portion of the tire is made more rigid and the stresses developedin the rubber of the tread may become excessive.

The objects of this invention are to provide a tire that requires only avery low inflation pressure, and which will not let the vehicle wheeldown when pressure in the tire is lost so that control of the vehiclewill be retained even if a blowout should occur.

In general, these objects are accomplished by using a plurality ofinternal, reinforced annular ridges which will remain substantiallycircular while the tire will retain its flexibility in the directionnormal to the plane of the wheel.

The means by which the objects of the invention are obtained aredescribed more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section of a wheel and tire in use; and

FIG. 2 is a section of a modified tire of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a wheeled rim 1 has a tire 2 mounted thereon. Thistire having a conventional air chamber therein is shown as running on aroad surface 3 so that at its point of contact it is flattened againstthe road surface.

On the inner surface of the tread portion of the tire 2, that is, in theair chamber, are a plurality of contiguous annular ridges 4 each oftrapezoidal section and each containing an annular reinforcing rod 5, ora plurality of reinforcing rods or wires 6 in the modified tire in FIG.2.

These ridges 4 are shown as being trapezoidal in section and adhered attheir wider side to the inner surface of the carcass of the tire so thatthe invention can be added to tires of general manufacture. It is clear,however, that the ridges 4 may be molded as an integral part of the tireat the time of manufacture.

Each ridge 4 with its reinforcement 5 or 6 has a fairly high degree ofrigidity with a spring-like quality. From the arrows in FIG. 1, it isshown that, due to the flattening of the tread against the road surface3, each ridge exerts an upward stress F distributed by the wide side ofthe ridge to the upper portion of the tire. These stresses are counteredby a tension F in the side walls of the tire. The wheel and rim 1, then,will be supported at all times, at least in part, by the tension in theside walls of the tire at its upper portion acting on the tire beads.

Under normal operating conditions using air pressure within the airchamber of the casing, the wheel will also be supported in part by theair in the tire. A minimum of air pressure will therefore be requiredfor operation of the tire, which reduces the hazard of blowouts.

Due to having the reinforcing elements 5, or 6, mounted in separateridges 4 having the V-shaped spaces therebetween, the tread portion ofthe tire retains a high degree of flexibility in the direction at rightangles to the plane of the tire so that the bottom of the tire willreadily flatten itself against the road surface to distribute the loadof the tire.

In other tires having annular elements, such as US. Pat. No. 3,329,192,the tread portion of the tire is more rigid than desirable which placesvery high stresses in the tire when an unevenness, such as a rock, ispassed over. It will be noticed that if a small rock were between thetire and the road surface 3 in FIG. 1 near one side of the tire the tiretread portion immediately over the rock is capable of upward movement,yet the tread at the other side of the tire would still bear on the roadsurface due to its flexibility. The clearance or space between thetapered ridges permits such flexibility while the broad contiguous basesof the trapezoidal ridges assures a relatively uniform distribution ofthe load to the far side of the tire.

The FIG. 2 structure is similar to that of FIG. 1 except that aplurality of smaller rods or wires 6 are substituted for the rod or wire5.

Having now described the means by which the objects of the invention areobtained,

I claim:

1. A vehicle tire comprising tread portion, side wall portions and rimengaging beads at the inner extremities of said side wall portions toform, with a wheel rim, an enclosed air chamber, a plurality of parallelannular strongly reinforced ridges of trapezoidal section coaxiallypositioned, the broad bases of said, trapezoidal ridges being againstthe inner surface of said tread portion said ridges being contiguouswith each other to provide V shaped spaces therebetween, said ridgescooperating with the inner surface of said tread portion to transmitradial compressive forces applied against the outer surface of saidtread portion to said rim engaging beads by tension in said side wallsat the side of said tire remote from said applied compressive forces,said ridges each including at least one annular spring metal reinforcingrod.

2. The vehicle tire of claim 1 in which said ridges include a pluralityof annular strengthening wires.

3. The vehicle tire of claim 1 in which said annular ridges are adheredto the inner surface of said tread portion.

4. The vehicle tire of claim 1 in which said annular ridges are formedintegrally with said tread portion.

1. A vehicle tire comprising tread portion, side wall portions and rimengaging beads at the inner extremities of said side wall portions toform, with a wheel rim, an enclosed air chamber, a plurality of parallelannular strongly reinforced ridges of trapezoidal section coaxiallypositioned, the broad bases of said, trapezoidal ridges being againstthe inner surface of said tread portion said ridges being contiguouswith each other to provide V shaped spaces therebetween, said ridgescooperating with the inner surface of said tread portion to transmitradial compressive forces applied against the outer surface of saidtread portion to said rim engaging beads by tension in said side wallsat the side of said tire remote from said applied compressive forces,said ridges each including at least one annular spring metal reinforcingrod.
 2. The vehicle tire of claim 1 in which said ridges include aplurality of annular strengthening wires.
 3. The vehicle tire of claim 1in which said annular ridges are adhered to the inner surface of saidtread portion.
 4. The vehicle tire of claim 1 in which said annularridges are formed integrally with said tread portion.